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Martin was born in Riverside, California, the daughter of Debbie, a kindergarten teacher, and Doug Martin, a department store buyer and retail executive.[1] Martin loved to perform for her close-knit family. She began her acting career at age seven, when her aunt, who was a nanny for actor Michael Landon's children, helped her land a guest spot on the Landon produced series Father Murphy. At the age of eleven, she was a contestant during Young People's Week on Card Sharks.[2]

In 1993, she made a guest appearance as "Cleo Walker" on an episode of seaQuest DSV titled "Brothers and Sisters." In 1994, she starred on her own series, acting alongside Tyne Daly in the CBS period drama Christy. The series was based on a popular spiritually-themed novel by the author Catherine Marshall and told the story of a young missionary teacher in an isolated community in the Appalachian Mountains. The show was well received and had an avid fan base, but its ratings suffered from being moved around the television schedule in unpredictable time slots. She also reunited with her Troop Beverly Hills co-star Emily Schulman on this series.

In 1994, she starred on the Lifetime movie A Friend to Die For (also known as "Death of a Cheerleader") in a lead role. In 1995, she starred on The Face on the Milk Carton, a TV film based on the book by Caroline Cooney about a teenager who finds out she was kidnapped from her real family 13 years prior and had been raised by the parents of her kidnapper. She also was on A Goofy Movie as the voice of Roxanne, Max's love interest. In 1996, Martin starred as deaf abuse victim Laura Keyes on Lifetime's TV movie "After the Silence (aka Breaking Through)" and in 1997, she starred on the short-lived NBC drama Crisis Center, which lasted only six episodes.

From 1998–2000, Martin appeared on the medical drama ER as medical student Lucy Knight. Martin was still going to Yale at the time and postponed her education so that she could join the cast.[3]

In 2003, Martin starred on Mystery Woman, a Hallmark Channel movie about the owner of a mystery bookshop who solves actual crimes. It proved a popular vehicle for Martin; since 2005 she has gone on to make ten more Mystery Woman movies for Hallmark, two of which she directed. Also in 2003, Martin had a supporting role on the comedic film Malibu's Most Wanted.

In 2006, Martin starred in the Lifetime movie Live Once, Die Twice, followed by No Brother of Mine in 2007. Also in 2007, Martin provided the voice for the adult-version of Barbara Gordon on "Artifacts", an episode of The Batman.

In 2009 Martin was a guest on Grey's Anatomy, episode "No Good at Saying Sorry." She also guest starred in the Ghost Whisperer episode "Stage Fright" as Cally O'Keefe. More recently, she has guest starred on the Private Practice episode "The Way We Were".